June 2009 was a very rewarding, albeit boring month, after a busy May. Travel is hampered by the flu virus; scare of being contaminated, and inconvenience of being quarantined. So I just stayed home and wrote and wrote (and ate, and watched lots of films).

The performances of the UE and UV Chorale of my new pieces were attention getters, thanks to their dynamic conductor, Anna Piquero.

The Philippine Madrigal Singers also are on European tour, singing a lot of my music, including arrangements of two of the most touching pieces I know: Mi Mancherai (from Il Postino) and Hymne a l'amour. These songs never fail to elicit tears and a standing ovation from an audience.

During the 2005 tour of my children's choir, we sang Hymne a l'amour at the beginning of our concert, and the people gave a standing ovation, right after the first song. The mayor of the town (Ollioules, France) at the end of the show, gave a long speech about how this is the song of the youth, and about how the choir sang in perfect French (oh yes).

Anyway, I finally came around to transcribing the Tboli Saging Tundan materials, and will probably write it for SATB, SSA, AND TTB with different titles, for distinction of the different versions. Although, I will only use one stanza, because the text will be very very hard to remember!